i want an ocean view
by withneedleandthread
Summary: 'enough silence goes by for him to start regretting asking, when jane suddenly blurts out, "my best friend told me he loves me yesterday!" slight jane/jeremy


i.

Jane is in a bad mood - no, a panicked mood, when she comes into work. Jeremy can tell from the moment she steps into Donovan Decker and nearly falls onto her face, tripping over her own heels. Fortunately, he manages to catch her before she gives herself a concussion, but she immediately rushes off to work on the new line while mumbling a 'thank you'.

He shakes his head as he realizes how he's going to end up spending most of his day.

ii.

Half of his time goes into his work on the new line, and the other half goes into figuring out what's going on with Jane. First off, he tries to talk with her about it, but the instant she realizes what he's doing, she starts ignoring him. Then he asks around, but no one knows. (Carter in particular raises an eyebrow at him when he asks.)

It doesn't take too long to realize that, to find out what's going on, he's going to have to get Jane to tell him.

iii.

It's lunchtime, and as Jane starts heading towards the place everyone eats at, Jeremy intercepts her, taking her arm in his.

"What - what are you doing!" Jane asks, shocked.

"Taking you out to lunch."

"No - "

"Look, Jane, you haven't exactly been in the best of moods today, and I can tell there's some you need to talk about. I'm willing to listen, and if you don't want to listen, well, you get a fairly expensive lunch out of it."

She's quiet for a moment, before replying with obviously faked annoyance, "_If you insist_." The look of annoyance almost immediately cracks, and she laughs a little. He does, too.

"Well, lead the way!" Jane says.

They both start walking, and she doesn't pull her arm away, so he doesn't, either.

iv.

It's half-way through lunch, and they've spent most of the time talking about work, when she suddenly goes quiet.

After a moment of carefully considering what to say, Jeremy finally asks, "Do you want to talk about whatever it is that's bothering you?"

Enough silence goes by for him to start regretting asking, when Jane suddenly blurts out, "My best friend told me he loves me yesterday!"

. . .a bit too loudly, as the other people in the restaurant turn and stare at her. She blushes bright red and hides her face in her hands.

v.

After she manages to shake off the embarrassment, she spills the whole story, about how she and her best friend since she was young were hanging out as they always did, when he told her out of nowhere that he loves her.

"I. . .I just stood there because I was so shocked, and then he just left, and now he's avoiding me."

She sniffles a little, and he hands her a napkin, which she takes with a 'thank you'.

"And - we've been friends pretty much forever, what if this completely ruins our friendship?" Jane starts panicking, and the look of obvious fear about the idea of losing her friend is so genuine, any type of humor he had goes away.

"I've never really thought about it before, so I have no idea - what if I'm overthinking my feelings? What if I just convince myself that I have feelings for him, too? I'm not -"

"Jane."

"But what if I'm overthinking the overthinking? What if I tell him I don't and then I realize I do and it's too late? What if he never wants to talk to me again - "

"JANE."

"How will I explain why we're not hanging out anymo - "

"JANE."

Finally, she stops rambling, "What?"

"Just. . .take a breath, or you're going to have a panic attack."

Jane nods, and they're both quiet. He think about how he should word what he's going to say next.

"There's. . .really only one question you need to ask yourself, Jane."

"What's that?" She asks, desperate and stressed out.

"Do you love him?"

"I - " The answer is in her eyes as she covers her mouth with her hands, tears welling up, " - I. . .don't. He's my best friend, and I care about him, but I don't. . ." She can't even bring herself to finish the sentence.

vi.

The walk back to Donovan Decker is mostly silent. About halfway that, she suddenly stops and says, "Everything's going to change now, isn't it?"

Jeremy simply nods, wishing he could tell her something else, but he couldn't. The last thing she needed to hear on this was lies.

"Can I have a hug?" Jane manages to choke out, tears slipping down her cheeks.

"Of course." He replies, pulling her into a hug. For a while, they just stand there. For anyone else, he would probably be annoyed at having to help out with their issues, especially ones relating to their love life. But with her, it didn't bother him.

When they get back, she whispers a 'thank you so much' before getting back to work.


End file.
